I was recently in the U.S. celebrating two beautiful weddings, multiple festive Sheva Brachotand one wonderful 80 ^thbirthday party. Landing in Israel after a five-hour delay followed by a ten-hour flight, I was exhausted. My son and daughter-in-law graciously picked us up from Ben-Gurion Airport with my car, and I proceeded to drive them

When I took my eldest daughter, Atara, to Israel three-and-a-half years ago shortly before her bat mitzvah, my intent was to afford her the special privilege of visiting the Jewish homeland and allowing her to have an experience unlike anything she had ever had before. It turned out to be a life-altering experience for her. From that point onward, my daughter

“Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh.” The sound of a motorboat? No, these are the sounds actually uttered by a man who davenedSelichos next to me several years ago. He is not to be confused with the man who uttered “Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh” or the one who blabbered, “Vuh-vuh-vuh-vuh-vuh-vuh-vuh.” The Artscroll Selichos machzorstates: “The

Despite their portrayal in the media, the recent spate of sexually charged salacious episodes has less to do with lasciviousness and more do to with abuse of power. Prurient as they appear on the surface these incidents, starring an assortment of politicos, corporate executives, sports heroes, and religious officiants, should not be dismissed as the work of sexually

Reuters recently broke with Big Media’s muddled mantra that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the region’s “core conflict.”

More than 100,000 people have died in the Syrian conflict and violence has flared again in Iraq, with over 1,000 killed there in July alone, many at the hands of al Qaeda. Tensions over Iran’s disputed nuclear program have also

www.thetower.org.—[Mudar is an Arab who believes there cannot be peace without the refugees’ right of return.] He is trapped in a psychological construct essential to his identity as a Palestinian—a collectivist identity that dominates the Palestinian mainstream.

One of the more tragic aspects of a collectivist identity is that it stifles those aspects of

(Reprinted with permission of Stratfor.

Visit www.stratfor.com)

Global, nonspecific threats such as those that prompted recent U.S. embassy closures and travel warnings have rarely proved credible. These precautionary measures appear to be the result of two separate threats, one attack against an unspecified U.S. embassy and

While the Middle East combusts, threatening vital U.S. interests, the U.S. attempts to clip Israel’s wings — the only reliable, predictable, stable, effective, democratic and unabashedly pro-U.S. firefighter in the region.

Western policy-makers and public-opinion molders welcomed the 2011 riots on the Arab street as an “Arab Spring,” a people’s

With large families, a deep love of Israel and the Jewish people,simultaneous dedication to our faith and engagement with the broader world, dietary restrictions and modest dress, and being misunderstood (even by their coreligionists), Orthodox Jews surprisingly have much in common with one of the fastest growing religions in the United States - the Church of Latter

I pray that the above headline will supplant “Dewey DefeatsTruman” as the classic illustration of the dangers of prediction. (I’m writing before TishaB’Av.) But I’m pretty sure it won’t. Not after watching footage of police rescuing a harediman who made the mistake of wandering in his IDF uniform into Mea Shearim on the way to visit relatives. He

I could not believe my eyes. I was a young prosecutor handling night court arraignments. Basically, I was formally accusing each defendant of a crime and then asking for bail. The courtroom that night was packed with Hasidim, each one trying to get my attention. And, then, I found out why. Next up? A 23-year-old yeshiva student accused of sexually abusing his 10-year-

On July 7, 2013 Rosh Hodesh Av, I witnessed the police stand idly by while ultra-Orthodox (haredi) extremists verbally and physically abused women. In the days that followed I read as blog posts ran all over the internet blaming the scene on Women of the Wall for sensationalism and provocation.  These types of articles blaming women of one side or another